The suggestion that the Chinese predated Christopher Columbus in the Americas is a major argument of the amateur historian Gavin Menzies. In fact, it seems that Menzies has made his career by going against the mainstream view of the past. Three of his more debated books are '1421: The Year China Discovered the World' – a book claiming a Chinese fleet led by Admiral Zheng He reached the Americas in 1421, its sequel '1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance', and a text that mainstream thinkers regularly mock – 'The Lost Empire of Atlantis: History's Greatest Mystery Revealed'.